


Oh My God, They Were Roommates

by KittyGodspeed118



Category: Good Game (TV 2017)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Good Game, M/M, they were roommates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:28:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29421612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyGodspeed118/pseuds/KittyGodspeed118
Summary: Ryland finds a weirdo on Facebook who agrees to be his roommate. That weirdo ends up being one of the most important people he’s ever met.
Relationships: Ryland & Alex Taylor (Good Game), Ryland/Alex Taylor (Good Game)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Oh My God, They Were Roommates

**Author's Note:**

> An origin story for Ryland Tate and Alex Taylor

Ryland checked his phone again, anxiously pacing the shitty, nearly antique carpet of his new apartment. Half-unpacked boxes littered the living room and it was almost impossible to move around without knocking something over. He didn’t need much to be comfortable but he would absolutely admit that it was a garbage apartment in a really nice neighborhood. 

He shoved the boxes of clothes off the L-shaped muted green couch that took up most of the living room space. Any minute now, he would be meeting the person who’d be splitting rent with him. He knew very little about who the guy was, but he knew not to keep his expectations very high considering they found each other on Facebook. What he knew was minimal: The guy’s name was Alex, he was an aspiring musician with little to no success, and he loved to smoke weed. Luckily, Ryland wasn’t looking for a friend, he was looking for a roommate so he could do more than just pay rent every month. 

“Hello?” A voice called from the half-open front door. 

“Hey, I’m here,” Ryland replied, quickly kicking on the one pair of basketball shorts he could find in the chaos of clutter. 

“Cool! What’s up, man? I’m Alex!”

Alex immediately threw his long arms around Ryland, squeezing him tight. Ryland, though confused, awkwardly patted the stranger’s back politely. He wasn’t accustomed to such energy and it was obvious. 

“It’s super cool to meet you!”

“Yeah, thanks...uh, not to be that guy, but you said you’d be here at 2?”

“Ohh, yeah, I did.”

“It’s 4:30.”

“Right,” Alex agreed absently before holding out a bag of In N’ Out fries. “I had to do a bunch of last minute shit, but I grabbed you some lunch! It’s just fries, though...I got hungry on the drive over.”

Ryland made a face, mostly composed of confusion but also a tinge of entertainment. It’d been a long time since he had someone to keep him company and he was beginning to relax a little more already. He took a moment to look Alex over. He was lanky and skinny, wearing a pair of bright yellow Bermuda shorts and a Spongebob colored short-sleeved buttoned shirt with pineapples littered throughout it. His wild curly brown hair was pulled back into a lazy ponytail. His deep cocoa eyes were still red. He looked like a walking travesty. 

“This place is real nice,” Alex observed genuinely, taking Ryland by surprise. 

“Seriously? It’s falling apart, I found mold in the bathtub, our upstairs neighbors have been fucking since what feels like 10 AM, and our landlord is some weird old guy who won’t stop trying to talk to me about Gauntlet...whatever the fuck that is.”

“Yeah, but it’s, like, part of the charm or whatever.”

Alex grinned good-naturedly at Ryland. He loved any opportunity to make a new friend and he was immediately enamored by his roommate’s aloof, not-giving-a-shit attitude. The extrovert had found his token introvert. 

Ryland sat back on the couch, poking and prodding through a few boxes before finding the book he was looking for. Alex plopped down next to him, uncomfortably close. 

“Did you need help unpacking or?” Ryland finally asked, absolutely unable to concentrate with Alex’s eyes on him.

“Oh, no, I’m good! What’re you reading?”

“It’s just a book…”

Alex beamed at Ryland, causing him to feel incredibly unsettled and weird. Ryland, aloof and awkward, rarely ever had someone around him that was so cheery and it was doubly rare to find someone who was happy to be with him specifically. Alex seemed to be enamored, always so excited to pester an introvert into being his friend. 

“Do you mind if I smoke in here,” Alex inquired abruptly, pulling a blue stegosaurus-shaped pipe from his messenger bag. 

“No, I don’t really care.”

“Yeah, that’s your whole thing, huh?”

Ryland furrowed his eyebrows and peered up from his book. Being aloof was fun until someone pointed out how hard he was trying.

“What?”

“Hm?” Alex mumbled as he pressed his lips to his pipe and fiddled with his lighter. 

“What do you mean, that’s my whole thing?”

“I just meant, like, you pretend you don’t give a shit or whatever, right?”

Ryland set down his book and sulked. Alex seemed like he had a single digit’s amount of brain cells, yet he seemed totally aware of what he was talking about. Alex went on as if he hadn’t said anything, lighting up the pipe and inhaling deeply. The silence told the stoner everything he needed to know. 

“Wanna hit?”

“No...I’m good, I think.”

Alex shrugged, happy to smoke in the company of someone else, regardless of whether he was the only one smoking or not. Ryland shifted in his seat, fidgeting and trying to get comfortable. He hadn’t even known his roommate for more than 20 minutes and he was already getting psychoanalyzed. 

“I don’t ‘pretend’ to not give a shit. I give a shit a lot, actually.”

“I mean, it just kinda seems like you don’t like showing any emotion because it opens you up to possible disappointment,” Alex went on,   
coughing between pulls. “But like, it’s not a huge deal. I cried in the bathroom of a Denny’s at 3 AM like, a week ago because my ex posted a picture of her dog that I miss.”

“Jesus…”

“It’s cool though, I’m sure she’s treating Daisy just fine, I just needed to lose my shit for a little bit.”

“I’m sorry, was that supposed to be comforting?”

Alex shrugged again, clearly fine with how much he had just over shared. There was probably a point in there somewhere, though Ryland couldn’t be fucked to find it. 

“I think I was just saying you might need to just chill and let yourself feel some shit every now and then.”

“Oh cool, thank you,” Ryland grumbled, rolling his eyes. 

Ryland leaned back into the couch cushions, searching for the remote for the TV. He dug his hand into the gross, dirty cushions and felt around until he found the tiny Roku remote. Maybe distraction would work better.

“I’ve been looking to watch that new Mission Impossible. It looks like shit,” he asserted, trying desperately to change the subject. 

“I dunno, man, I like the way the explosions look.”

“Of course you do.”

Without even realizing it, Ryland had become one of Alex’s favorite people. Even more surprising, Ryland was terrified of how fast Alex was becoming his. He turned on the TV, searching for the awful new Tom Cruise flick. Maybe the explosions would look cool at the very least.


End file.
